Economic Consequences of Terrorism in South Asia

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the impact of terrorism in South Asian countries. The study is based on secondary data collected from South Asian Report, crime records, South Asia Terrorism Portal, and other reports. Descriptive statistics of South Asia shows that out of the total deaths due to terrorism, 52.63 percent of the deaths occurred among terrorists, 35.22 percent civilians, and only 12.15 percent among the security forces (SFs). Human Development Index (HDI) and total number of fatalities in the region are highly correlated with an expected negative sign. This means that terrorist activities have adversely affected human development in the South Asian region. Besides, human development of the SFs has been highly hampered by their fatalities, with that of terrorists being relatively low. Civilians are relatively less affected by the fatalities as the correlation results show a moderate (−0.543) value. Total number of deaths due to terrorism in India was 21,942 between 2005 and 2018 but was 57,840 in Pakistan, which is substantially higher compared to India. The number of deaths of civilians, SFs, and terrorists in Pakistan is almost double that of India during the same period. In India, civilian deaths due to terrorism have significantly reduced over time. In Pakistan, civilian deaths have increased from 2005 to 2013, thereafter reducing. Terrorist groups have been subjected to major loss due to more deaths among them. With regard to terrorism, Pakistan is the most critical country in the South Asian region. Regional cooperation in South Asia and multilateral discussions can reduce terrorism in this region.

Citation

Patra, S. (2019), "Economic Consequences of Terrorism in South Asia", Das, R.C. (Ed.) The Impact of Global Terrorism on Economic and Political Development, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 179-190. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-919-920191016